Anybody who keeps up with Student Senate meeting minutes knows by now that there is a committee that has been formed to plan the proposed building of a playground on the Knox campus.
So far, nothing has gone past the idea stage, though a survey was sent out to the student body recently to gauge interest and get feedback on the proposal.
The Student Senate playground committee is something that has existed since week five of fall term and has operated largely on the whims of the members of Student Senate involved. One senator, Sean Hutchison, was quoted in the senate week eight minutes as saying that they should “ignore the haters” and build the playground.
Student Senate has made it clear that the proposed money to be spent on the playground comes from a campus life enhancement fund and thus cannot be spent on things that students may find more useful, as has been suggested. However, just because the money involved is budgeted for a project along these lines does not mean that the time spent planning this could not be focused on something more useful.
One has to wonder if this proposed playground is not serving to distract from real issues that Knox students are facing.
The Student Senate is designed to act as a representative of the campus population and to promote the desires of that population. They have the power to make decisions impacting our collective livelihood on campus and are in a position where the administration will listen.
The playground survey is the only survey that the Student Senate has sent out to the student body this term.
The playground proposal came about because a member of Student Senate mentioned that it could be beneficial to build a Knox playground as the local playgrounds are all designed for children and legally close at night, a time highlighted by members of Student Senate that they would frequent this proposed playground at.
Creating a space on campus that encourages physical activity and a sense of play is a good thing, however, a playground isn’t necessarily solving the actual problem. Before we can talk about play and how to effectively promote a safe and accessible space to do that, there needs to be recognition of the massive sense of burnout among Knox students. Perhaps our resources have better places to be.